In Russia, Aralia cordata was first collected in Sakhalin, by the well-known Russian botanist and geologist F. B. Schmidt. E. Regel assigned the plant to the Sakhalin variety of the North American Aralia racemosa Linnaeus; however, Schmidt himself considered the characters that distinguished A. cordata from A. racemosa to be significant enough to warrant separate species status. He noted further that a comparison of the plant found in Sakhalin with a picture of the herbaceous Aralia that grows in Japan "does not allow us to infer any sharp distinctions between the two species."

Aralia cordata is a herbaceous perennial plant 0.9-3.5 m tall, with a dense ramified rhizome, from which long cord-like adventitious roots extend. The main root functions initially but gradually dies off in several years. Several simple non-branching ground shoots, sometimes even numbering more than two dozen, start from the rhizome and are rather densely covered with bristles, which abound particularly at the stem base and in the nodules, where they are stiffer and sturdier.

The leaves are large, up to 50-60 cm long and 60 cm wide, two- or three-fold pennicomplex, the number of leaflets varying from 15 to 51. The leaflets are up to 20 cm long and 13 cm wide. They are oval, less often elliptical, cordiform or roundly truncate at the base, naked, dark-green on top, lighter colored below. The petioles are 20-30 cm long, slightly swollen into a short sheath at the base, often with lanceolate stipules up to 9 cm long. The flowers are small, greenish-white, and clustered in umbels 3-4 cm in diameter to form a large (from 35-70 cm wide) apical inflorescence. Besides side inflorescences, whose length is less than that of the apical inflorescence and amounts to an average of 15-25 cm, grow from the leaf axils. It blossoms in August-September and bears fruit in September. The fruits are black and contain sound drupes up to 4.5 cm in diameter and five or six stones.

In Russia, A. elata grows in the Kuril Islands (Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan, and Urup), and on Sakhalin where it occurs preferentially in the south of the island extending along its western coast to Doue Settlement (ca. 51ºN latitude). In the Kurils, it is quite common, occurring preferentially in groups. Its northern boundary passes along Urup Island. On Kunashir, it grows in elm-birch-maple forests of the lower mountain belt, and is a component of the Quercus dentata oak forest habitat, forming complex thickets. It grows there also on the eastern slopes of marine terraces, among bamboo growths (Alexeeva, 1983). On Iturup, it may be found in open oak forests (Quercus crispula) and also in the stone birch (Betula ermanii) groves of the central part of the island, where it attains a height of 2 m (Vorobiev, 1963).

On Shikotan, it occurs in mixed forests where it grows either singly or in small groups in mixed and coniferous forests, on forest edges, in shrub thickets, and occasionally among bamboo growths and on meadows among herbage; on Sakhalin, it abounds over steep gravely slopes of ocean-bordering creek valleys.

Like other species of Aralia, A. cordata is important primarily in Russian medicine. A tincture prepared from its rhizomes is used for stimulating and for its tonic effect. The plant is quite decorative because of its large leaves and inflorescences. On Sakhalin, several of its forms show different shoot coloration, leaf plate size, and shoot branching. It reproduces by seeds.

List of illustrations:

Fig. 4.1. Geographic distribution of Aralia cordata.